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Source: The post is based on the article “Right to marry is not absolute, laws regulate marriage, Centre tells SC” published in The Hindu on 27th April 2023
What is the News?
The Supreme Court has continued to hear a batch of pleas seeking legal recognition for same-sex marriages.
What is the case about?
What is the Central Government’s stand on same-sex marriage?
The Central Government has opposed same-sex marriage. It has argued that the right to marry is not an “absolute right” and petitioners cannot compel the state to grant legal status to same-sex marriage through a judicial declaration.
It reiterated its humble request to the Supreme Court not to rewrite the Special Marriage Act (SMA) for legal validation of same-sex marriages.
It also said that the legal recognition of same-sex marriage by making the Special Marriage Act gender-neutral should ideally be debated in Parliament and not the court.
This is because the debate in Parliament will be assisted by national views, views of experts, and views on impact, effects and what are implications of several laws.
For instance, the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 was the Parliament’s response to the decriminalization of homosexuality by the Supreme Court in 2018. The term ‘transgender person’ in the act is widely defined to include all spectrums of the LGBTQIA+ community.
